Pavel Abukhovich
assigned coercive mental treatment
Date of birth: 26 August 1972
Date of detention: 22 April 2022
Charges indicted:
Art. 369 of the Criminal Code — Insulting a government official
Art. 368 of the Criminal Code — Insulting the President of the Republic of Belarus
Art. 130 of the Criminal Code — Incitement to hatred
Sentence: coercive mental treatment
Penalty: compulsory psychiatric treatment
Pavel Abukhovich was assigned coercive mental treatment under Part 1 of Article 130, Article 369, and Part 1 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code for his comments posted on a social network. The content of the comments is not specified in the court ruling, but it is noted that they contained criticism of law enforcement officers, insult of the former head of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption (GUBOPiK) and Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mr. Karpiankou, and Mr. Lukashenka.
In the absence of signs of the defendant’s public danger, when he could cause harm to others and/or himself, we consider his forced placement in a psychiatric hospital to be an arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
